Q0421
Jeremy Bentham
A verified English rendering from the curated archive.
English
Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure.
Source context
This English passage is associated with IPML, Ch. 1, within the tradition of Utilitarianism. The wording below is a verified rendering prepared for careful reading rather than a claim of unique translation authority.
A short reading
Read in the register of life, the sentence asks the reader to test an assumption rather than to collect a slogan. In Jeremy Bentham's wider work, similar claims are usually offered as prompts for judgment: what would have to be true for the sentence to hold, and what would follow if it did?
How to cite this quotation
APA: Jeremy Bentham. (n.d.). Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0421
MLA: Jeremy Bentham. “Nature has placed mankind under the governance of….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0421.
Chicago: Jeremy Bentham. “Nature has placed mankind under the governance of….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0421.